The United States President Donald Trump is considering a ground operation in Iran to seize 400 kilograms of highly enriched uranium, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.
As the US-Israeli war on Iran has been lasting for over a month, Trump is now assessing how dangerous teh ground operation would be for the troops involved, according to US government sources who spoke to WSJ.
The US President is reportedly open to the idea, as it would help him achieve the stated objective of the war: preventing Iran from ever building a nuclear weapon. However, such a mission would be risky and complex, and would likely take several days.
According to WSJ, Trump has urged his advisers to make the handover of the uranium a condition for ending the war. If Iran were to refuse to agree to this at the negotiating table, Trump is reported to have indicated that he would seize the metal by force.
For days now, reports have been circulating about a possible US ground offensive. Pakistan has initiated talks to prevent this, but these have not yet led to direct negotiations between Washington and Tehran.
Before Israel and the US carried out air strikes on Iran in June last year, thereby "totally destroying" its nuclear capacity, according to Trump at the time.
Iran reportedly possessed more than 400 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60%. Uranium enriched to 90% is required for the construction of nuclear weapons.
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, had previously stated that Iran's highly enriched uranium is mainly located in underground tunnels and storage facilities at the nuclear sites in Isfahan and Natanz. Both facilities were heavily bombed in June.
